bibliophile princess

By Yui and Satsuki Sheena. Released in Japan as “Mushikaburi-hime” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

Boy, remember when this was a fluffy little puff of a light novel series? Those days are gone for good now, as this book continues its slide into the dark side of things, mostly as it seems the only two people in the world who want Chris and Elianna to get married are Chris and Elianna. There is a possible war going on that both sides seem to want, the Ashen Nightmare has hit the Royal Palace, there’s a woman going around giving out placebos who really wants to be the one to give Chris an heir, and Elianna is forced to disguise herself as a boy and negotiate tragic backstories as she desperately tries to find the one book that can help them figure out a way to cure this disease… and then things get REALLY bad. There’s just a lot going on, and if you were expecting things to end nicely in this book, well, sorry. That said, it’s good writing, and I was drawn into it throughout.

A large chunk of this is from Chris’s perspective, and he holds up a lot better than I would have expected given that the last book ended with him hearing about Elianna going missing. Turns out he suspected something like this might happen. Even worse, there are many, many traitors around, some of whom are old friends of his. This isn’t even getting into the group that wants war, or the group that wants him on the throne but married to someone else. And, given the King is now deathly ill, that group is starting to hammer on things really hard. Oh yes, and there’s the delegation from Maldura, who also have their own agenda involving Chris, and who are really there to see Elianna… who, much to their annoyance, isn’t there. Oh, and did I mention that there’s a cool new gemstone that might be CAUSING this new outbreak?

As for Elianna, she is pretty much herself, and what little comedy there is in this volume comes from the various characters talking about how boyish and unsexy she is, and her deadpan, but irritated on the inside, reactions to this. (There is also the short story towards the end, taking place in happier times, where she and her friends investigate a haunted house and learn of its tragic past.) She too is having to deal with many problems, including the person who has the book she’s looking for, whose son was scapegoated by the Royal Family years ago, and therefore gets someone ELSE saying “you must first say you will never marry Prince Chris”. The ending is not exactly a cliffhanger in terms of danger, but it is very much one in terms of “the thing we were hoping would solve everything is now gone, and we are screwed”. It really makes you want to read the next book.

Bad news about that, alas. This came out in early 2019 in Japan, and there’s been nothing since. The webnovel it’s based on has only recently started moving slowly forward again, and the author is notorious for being slow. So… hope you enjoyed this one, as it’s gonna be a while. That said, this was a decent book, though somewhat low on puffball princess antics. She only tilts her head in confusion twice!

By Yui and Satsuki Sheena. Released in Japan as “Mushikaburi-hime” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

Last time I wrote about how the author of Bibliophile Princess seemed to be running out of ideas, and that the third book was, in large part, a retread of the first book. Apparently between that book and this one, according to the Afterword, the author’s writer’s block got even worse. So, if nothing else, this shows that sometimes a huge amount of pressure can be good for a person, as the fourth volume of Bibliophile Princess is the best in the series to date. Finally accepting that she can’t simply write the same love story over and over again, this time around politics, which have always simmered in the background of every book, come front and center and put Elianna in a position where she has to make decisions on her own in a crisis. All of this without Chris at her side – he’s busy trying to resolve things with the kingdom’s longtime enemy. And another subplot that’s been burbling underground through all the books finally comes to the surface, and it’s terrifying.

Elianna is being sent to Ralshen, a region that, for historical, political, and religious reasons does not have the best relationship with Sauslind. She’s taking Chris’ place as he’s negotiating some sort of peace deal with the war-loving Maldura. A lot of the nation’s past is explained to Elianna (and the reader) in this book; she’s already aware of it, of course, but needs to see how this affects things politically. There’s also a couple of examples of failed marriages, in particular one between a King and a Queen who disagreed over policy decisions, and Elianna is asked, if she and Chris came to such a crisis, what would she do? She’s not sure, frankly, and I don’t blame her – she’s only just come to terms with her feelings for Chris, and so far they’re pretty much agreed about most things.

We meet one of Elianna’s childhood mentors – a friend of her grandfather’s who she calls “Grandpa Teddy”, he’s also a general who has seemingly been supporting her relationship with Chris. But that ends here, and you are once again thrown up against the fact that the Bibliophile Princess world is so political that marrying for love is not something that can happen very often. Elianna finds her upcoming marriage to Chris is also a political marriage, and one that, in the past, has always led to war. She’s not going to let that happen, but it’s hard to buck tradition. Along the way, there’s mysteries to solve, which allows her to do the now-traditional scene where she looks at a book – or, in this case, a painting – and tells everyone what really happened. As for the crisis at the end, I won’t spoil, but it’s been hinted at since the beginning, and leads to an especially nasty cliffhanger.

There is a fluffy short story at the end, taking place mostly about 2 years prior to the main action. It’s OK, but honestly after that cliffhanger it feels out of place. In the meantime, Bibliophile Princess has grown up, much like its heroine, and I can’t wait to see where Vol. 5 takes us.

By Yui and Satsuki Sheena. Released in Japan as “Mushikaburi-hime” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

We’ve been seeing a lot of light novels lately, particularly on the shoujo end, where it’s clear the author has a story in mind, wrote that specific story, and now the editors are telling them the story is popular, please write more and they get a little stuck. I’m not sure if that’s the case with Bibliophile Princess 3 (like the others, this does seem to have been published on the web first), but it definitely feels like that. We’re not ready for the wedding yet, and so we need to introduce more conflict. Unfortunately, the conflict that is introduced will feel very familiar to readers of the first volume, as it’s of a similar nature. Even after promising to talk to each other and not misunderstand things anymore, Christopher and Elianna are still struggling – him because he’s drowning in so much work that he doesn’t have the time, and Elianna because she is finally growing up and gaining emotional depth – for good and for ill.

She’s been going through royalty training, with Queen Henrietta trying her hardest to ensure that she’s prepared for the hardcore power politics that is life as a royal. A large part of Elianna’s teenage years was spent with Chris hiding her from this sort of thing, so there’s a lot of catch up to do. And Elianna is an introvert and wallflower (well, unless books become involved). She hears of one of her ideas being stolen by another noble family, and is shocked (mostly as it means there’s a mole close to her). There’s a Christmas ball (OK, it’s not “Christmas” per se, but everything about it reads like a Christmas holiday) where she’s supposed to dazzle everyone, and she is reluctant to be the Queen’s dress-up doll to perfect that (as the Queen has abused the privilege in the past). Worst of all, she keeps hearing about the prince’s childhood friend, and how she’s the one who REALLY should be with him.

Again, we’ve walked this journey before, in the first book. Elianna has a tendency to either downplay or simply not understand at all what she’s done for the kingdom, and we get that again here. That said, sometimes her emotional agony rings quite true, and the scene where she finally breaks down and cries in Christopher’s arms was well handled. I was not particularly fond of Lady Sharon – not as an antagonist, she works perfectly well there, being the typical bratty kid, but because she’s 10 years old and is being married off to Lord Glen, something that thankfully does not actually happen. I know back in the day such royal marriages across countries were typical, but this is not that day. That said, Sharon also led to the funniest scene in the book, when she tries to get Elianna to abandon Chris by offering an extremely rare book – and Elianna, while she eventually makes the correct decision, is sorely tempted.

So all told this is a very up-and-down volume in the series, which is struggling to try to find new ways to say the same thing. I hope in future books it finds different things to say.

By Yui and Satsuki Sheena. Released in Japan as “Mushikaburi-hime” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

The second volume of Bibliophile Princess also consists of three stories, but the biggest (and best) takes up the first 2/3 of the book. Prince Chris has to go away on kingdom business for several days, and so Elianna will be representing him at a noble’s hunting-dancing-and-being-rich party. Naturally the party turns out to be a web of intrigue, from the expected (Elianna, despite being officially engaged to the Prince, is still not very popular with many young women, leading to a lot of catty remarks) to the dangerous (Elianna is almost killed by a runaway boar, knocked from her horse, threatened with violence by an assholish noble trying to mack on one of her new friends, and locked in a room with another noble in an attempt to besmirch her reputation). Fortunately, Elianna is able to get through it with a nice combination of book-learning, air-headedness, and a surprising amount of muscle. Takes strength to climb those library ladders searching for books, after all.

The author knows that Elianna’s personality is the main reason we’re reading the book, and shows it off nicely. That said, she grows in this book, not quite floating through every situation like a dandelion puff. Indeed, a lot of what goes on in this book could be a life lesson in “don’t be so naive and oblivious”, as is pointed out several times, especially by her cousin Lilia, who stomps through this book in a perpetual state of aggravation, which is great. When several young ladies snipe at her, she actually does get that they’re being insulting now, even if she chooses not to bother to respond. And she remains dedicated to her ideals – there is a subplot here involving the warlike nation they decided to give aide to in the last volume, and how a lot of people on both ides would feel more comfortable if the aid were military rather than otherwise. Elianna defends herself wonderfully, the only time she gets emotional in this book when it doesn’t involve books.

The other two stories are shorter and also less successful. Glen has fit into his role as the series whipping boy very easily, but it doesn’t mean I want to read a whole chapter about it. His company whine about why they have bad luck with women – just listening to them should tell you. That said, I will also admit (and this applies to the main story as well) that Prince Chris can be… a bit exhausting. Dial it back a bit, guy. There’s also a “is Elianna pregnant?” scene here that wouldn’t work if anyone took two seconds not to be mad and simply think about Elianna’s personality. The second story is another one that shows two people who are deeply in love with each other but don’t think that the other one is, leading to misadventures in a locked warehouse and Elianna getting to show off how she can still be terrifying in the right lighting and when covered in red dye.

Still, the first story is what sticks with you, and it’s excellent. I’m not sure if the next volume will have Elianna and Chris’ wedding – it’s in the spring, we’re told, but that’s still months away here – but I am hoping that the series will continue to have Elianna doing what she does best. And perhaps kicking a few more guys in the balls, too. That was fantastic.

By Yui and Satsuki Sheena. Released in Japan as “Mushikaburi-hime” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

The great thing about first-person narration is that not only is it a good way to get inside the head of the main character, but it can also be used to obfuscate, and even to fool the reader entirely. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie is probably the most classic example, but Japanese light novels are also filled with narrators who conceal and/or lie about their own thoughts. Fortunately, Elianna Bernstein is not that sort of narrator. No, instead her narration is sort of like a puffball, floating alongside events while missing the point of most of them. This is especially true of the first half of the book, when she tries to figure out why everyone is avoiding her – particularly her fiancee, the prince, who seems to be charmed by another woman. Now, it should come as no surprise to the reader that this proves not to be the case (indeed, so little surprise that I’m spoiling it here). But the journey it takes to get there is funny and sweet.

Elianna comes from a family of book-lovers – indeed, they’re famous for it, and their family are also knowledge brokers of a sort. She does not seem, at first, to be the same – indeed, it’s hard to get much of a sense of personality out of her beyond “loves to read”. She herself tells us about kids calling her “the library ghost” due to her pale complexion, and the current nickname of Bibliophile Princess is only a mild step up. Now she’s seeing her fiancee with another woman. This is it, right? The end of their engagement. Even if it means… shudder… giving back the book that Prince Christopher once gave to her. But is that what’s really going on? What’s more, is Elianna really just an insular book-loving heroine? Or is she actually changing the entire nation in many and varied ways… and then promptly forgetting about what she said as she’s moved on to her next book?

The book is in three parts. The first is Elianna’s narration of the “cheating” story, and reads like a standalone short story that an editor told her to expand into a novel. The second comes from other narrators, showing us other perspectives on Elianna, particularly the prince’s. Then we’re back to Elianna, mostly, for a third chunk which also reads like a short story, about a traveling book fair and its people. The first part was the most fun, but I think the last story was the strongest, as it gets into themes of racial prejudice and poverty, as well as seeing Elianna suddenly become an action heroine when she hears someone is about to burn a pile of books. It also shows Elianna gaining depth beyond the fun airhead we saw at the start – her uneasiness as she realizes that she can’t remember the first meeting between her and Chris is well handled.

Not only did the first chunk of the book read like a done-in-one short story, but the book feels like a standalone novel. Still, there are more novels in the series, and I’ll definitely want to read more. Elianna is fun to read, even if, as the author notes, when not reading a book she seems to look at people with a question mark over her head.

Also, Christopher, and particularly Prince Chris, reads terribly to me. I wish he’d been an Edward.